Collection: Winds and Survivors

The materials that Sheila uses informs her artistic relationship with nature. Lubago sustainably harvested bark cloth, carries spiritual and historical meaning.  In the Central Region of Uganda, the Buganda people have used backcloth since time immemorial. Sheila further transforms backcloth through a laborious process that creates an intricate paper. In this work, the artist evokes connections between the forces of nature, specific place and inner being. The works presented in the exhibition ‘She Who Spreads the Winds’ further reinforce a creative attachment to the environment. Exploring her relationship with the force of the wind, Sheila presents a very personal series of works:

I explore our interconnection with nature. Just like the winds, we are also a force of nature.
However winds are a force that can only be seen through their impact. The metaphoric interpretation of who we are as human beings. The internal or spiritual, that which we cannot see and the external or physical, which is seen.

What are we able to do, to withstand, overcome, develop, amidst these times.

The artwork is also a personal reflection and interrogation as a woman, a mother and an artist.

An Influence of mobility.
Metaphoric /Spiritual

Physical/Literal
The winds could be anything. A situation, a song, a disease, a trend, a body cell, an emotion.

We are the winds. That fan the flames

We are clouds that move the wind and bring rain.
Moving parts of our bodies (arms, legs, fins, wings)

we escape, Survive and Soar on
We make the Trees dance

And yet we are the trees

Rooted and grounded

We are the song of the mountains

That no one can see but hear

And yet we are the mountains that stand

We are the Queens that carry the load and spread the winds.